Darren Stuart Embry's
Map Collection

Contents: Introduction | The Collection | Scans Of Selected Maps | Miscellaneous | Related Sites

A map of the central part of Louisville, generated by the U.S. Census Tiger Mapping Service.

Introduction

Some of you might be wondering, why?

• I collect old maps of Louisville to survey the tremendous change and evolution in the area's highway and street network, and maybe find bits of history.

• I also collect maps of Louisville and a few other cities to survey the various styles of street map cartography used throughout the 20th centrury, especially old (and new) black-and-white maps.

• Over the past few years I've had the tendency to collect street maps of just about every city I've been in except for Dayton OH and Huntsville, AL, along with maps of every state I've been in.

This collection, acquired gradually over the course of a few years, contains maps of all varieties, new and old. These maps are not available for sale or trade. I do not collect maps for their resale value, nor for petroliana novelty value. I collect them because I enjoy using them and looking at the finer details of their cartography, though I don't claim to be an expert in cartography or in any related field.

The Collection

As of 2001-02-05, 575 items are listed in this collection. I am in the process of catching up to about 200 or so maps I haven't yet catalogued due to laziness on my part in the past couple months. Lots of typing to do, for sure.

And yes, I'm listing the crap here, too. Separate editions are counted individually, but multiple copies of the same edition are counted as one. The map collection database used to generate these pages was most recently modified on Friday, 30-Aug-2002 19:33:11 EDT.

• A summary of maps broken down into categories such as city street maps, state highway maps, recreational maps, public transit system maps, etc. Shows basic information in table form including coverage areas, dates, and who made those maps, and links to more detailed information.

• Some basic detailed information for all the maps in this collection on a single page, in no particular order. Includes details on insets, how to obtain these maps, and my short comments (may link to longer comments).

Scans Of Selected Maps

Separate pages for certain maps containing further detailed descriptions, reviews, and scans. These will trickle in when I find the spare time to scan and write descriptions and/or reviews. Again, keep in mind that I'm just a map enthusiast who actually doesn't know crap about cartography. :) I have separate pages for so far the following maps:

• Louisville
  • 1989 and 1999 TARC System Maps of Louisville
  • 1932 Wagner Map of Louisville
  • Why's It Called The Outer Loop? - excerpts from 1960s maps of Louisville which might shed light on why a certain road is called the Outer Loop.
  • 1999 LOJIC Street Atlas of Louisville and Jefferson County
  • 2000 Rand McNally StreetFinder Atlas of Louisville and Jefferson County
  • Coleman's 1982 Map of Louisville - Quite possibly the worst example of cartography I have ever seen. If you need a good laugh look at this.
• Cleveland
  • (NEW) 1963 Geographia Cleveland atlas
  • (NEW) Mapco Cleveland map, date unknown
• Other
  • (NEW) 1954 AAA Southeastern States
  • (NEW) 1966 Ohio official highway map
  • (NEW) 1971 AAA Detroit Southern Suburbs
  • (NEW) 2000 Lexington Fayette County, KY official atlas
  • 1961 Louisville Transit Company Map
  • 1997 Engels Map of Northern Kentucky

Miscellaneous

• The database file in its raw, pseudo-SGML form, which instantiates my attempt at a taxonomy which will probably get better over time.

• The Perl script that interprets the database file and generates the HTML pages, available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Related Sites

• My photos site includes highways, signs, and other things.

• My Louisville transportation site intends to contain everything you want to know about transportation in the Louisville area.

• My list and capsule reviews of current maps of Louisville.

• Michael G. Koerner's Highway Feature Of The Week - A look at significant features of the United States highway system, complete with scans from a topographic map of each area covered. In Louisville, the I-264/I-65 interchange was profiled.

• I am Road Map Collectors Association member #586.

• Cleveland Cartography - Information and news about historical and contemporary maps of Cleveland and the Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio. If only Louisville had a site like this!

• The Open Directory Project's indexes of sites related to Maps, Online Maps, and Antique Maps.

• Yahoo!'s indexes of sites related to Maps, Companies, and Antique Maps.